澳洲補救教育起源於50年前，最早是由一群墨爾本私立學校教師的非正式討論會開始。他們關注於學習成就不佳的學生，特別是閱讀與數學方面的低成就。其時，這類學習成就低的學生很少被官方所正視，負責的教師也沒有機會接受需要的專門培訓，以理解和處理學生的學習困難問題。直到1960年代，昆士蘭大學的Schonell特殊教育中心開設補救教育的證書課程，這些向來關注學習困難的教師都接受了證書課程，並努力說服學校教育當局聘用具備資格的補救教師之必要性，且隨即在1965年成立了「維多利亞州診斷與補救教師協會」，旨在提升從事補救學生學習困難的教師之專業圖像，並於1969年出版《補救教育》期刊（1973年改名為《澳洲補救教育期刊》）。其後，澳洲其他州從事補救教育的教師為了使「維多利亞州診斷與補救教師協會」成為全國性的組織，於1987年重組為「澳洲補救教育協會」。然而，隨著「補救」一詞逐漸出現貶義，且為彰顯協會成員已超越傳統的補救教師範圍，乃於1994年改名為「澳洲資源教育者協會」，並於1996年6月將協會的期刊改名為《澳洲學習障礙期刊》。直至2001年，再度改名為當今的「澳洲之學習困難（協會）」，以彰顯該協會的主要焦點為學習困難之學生，且更強調專業化與研究本位的教學方法。2008年，該期刊再度更名為《澳洲學習困難期刊》。依據上述的背景說明，本文將運用歷史研究法蒐集澳洲補救教學的相關史料，如《澳洲學習困難期刊》的論文，進行內容分析，逐一探究澳洲補救教育特別是在協助學習困難學生方面的歷史發展、現況及展望，或有助於我國在推動補救教育政策方面的參考。

Australian remedial education stared from 1950s when there was a growing concern that teachers, trained to teach to the “norm”, were not meeting the educational needs of students with learning disabilities, especially diffi culties in literacy and numeracy. Then, a small group of remedial teachers in Melbourne often meet for informal discussions. Like most classroom teachers, they – most of them employed in independent schools – were no strangers to children of apparently ‘normal’ intelligence who were significantly underachieving. The learning difficulties of these children were rarely officially acknowledged, however, and there had been few opportunities for teachers to receive the specialized training needed to understand and deal with their problems. In 1965, they decided to formalize their meetings and to widen membership. Thus was born the Diagnostic and Remedial Teachers Association of Victoria (DRTAV, in 2001 renamed Learning Diffi culties Australia), its broad aim to foster a professional image of teachers who worked with students with learning diffi culties through a range of activities, including a consultancy referral service, lobbying of funding bodies, professional development and publications. This paper, by means of historical research method, aims to analyze the historical development, current status and future vision of remedial education in Australia, with a view to draw out some implications for improving remedial education in Taiwan.